Miria Pomare was born in Gisborne, the daughter of James Woodbine Johnson and Mere Hape of Poverty Bay. She married Maui Pomare in 1903 and had two sons and one daughter. She was the honorary organiser, secretary and treasurer of Lady Liverpool and Mrs Pomare’s Māori Soldiers Fund from 1915-1922 and was honorary president of the Central National Māori War Fund. She was first president of the Wellington Women’s Club in 1925-27 and was vice-president from She was vice-president of the Pioneer Club in 1920. She was a former vice-president of the Red Cross Mothers’ Helpers, the Girl Guides, the Anglican Boys’ Home in Lower Hutt, Te Ropu o te Whanganui-a-Tara and the Māori Cricket Club. She was on the executive of the Wellington Māori Mission, and was a member of the Women’s Reform League, the Navy League and the Plunket Society. She was vice president of the Crippled Society and the Lyall Bay Surf Club, and was patroness of the Plimmerton Boat Club and Te Aroha Māori Hockey Association. She was awarded Coronation Medals in 1937 and 1953. She was representative of the Māori on all royal visits to New Zealand and was patroness of Ngāti Poneke. Sbe worked with the Anglican Māori Mission, the Ngāti Poneke Welfare Mission and was on the local board of directors of the Y.W.C.A. Miria was awarded the O.B.E. in 1917 for "her work with the Māori recruits during the Great War when she was honorary president of an organisation comprising no fewer than 72 committees."
Biographical sources
- Information sent by the Pomare family, August 1998.
- "A Noble Worker for the Cause of a Noble Race." Hui Whakamahara Ki a Maui Pomare, Manukorihi Pa, Waitara, Hune 23-27, 1936. New Plymouth, N.Z.: McLeod & Slade, [1936]. 21.
Non-fiction
- "Introduction/Kupu Whakaaraara." The Māori Mother And Her Child. New ed. Wellington, N.Z.: R. E. Owen, Government Printer, 1949. 2-5. Published by direction of the Hon. Mabel Howard, Minister of Health, In English and Māori.
- Pomare writes that traditional Māori medicinal treatments were sufficient in the pre-European era but with the influx of European settlers and their respective illnesses, she urges Māori to embrace the Pakeha ways of health and combating disease. Pomare states that in pre-European times it was the ‘pride of the Māori of the old days to bring up strong children to be the fighting men of the tribe. The fight to-day is like the fight of old, but the difference is that the risks of extermination to-day are not by the mere or taiaha, but by the incessant warfare of disease lurking in every neglected hole and corner of the kainga.’
Other
- "A Noble Worker for the Cause of a Noble Race." Hui Whakamahara Ki a Maui Pomare, Manukorihi Pa, Waitara, Hune 23-27, 1936. New Plymouth, N.Z.: McLeod & Slade, [1936]. 21.
- "Lady Miria Pomare’s Work for the Māori Race." Christchurch Star July 1936.